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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

I'm just returning from a 2.5 week trip to Asia learning more about e-Learning there and trying to teach them more about the type and quality of e-Learning that is going on in the states. I visited Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, and Korea. Suffice it to say that pretty much everything I heard falls into one of these categories, in decreasing order of commonality:

questions about how e-Learning could possibly be any good (same questions we faced 8-10 years ago when things were just starting to get serious in the U.S.)

outright dismissal of the idea as something that doesn't merit serious consideration

shock and surprise that so many American students are choosing e-Learning as an option

a genuine curiosity about e-Learning as a delivery method and how it might impact international students who desire to earn U.S. degrees.

Of the countries visited, this is my ranking of the enrollment potential in U.S. e-Learning for each of the countries, starting with the highest potential:1 - Korea2 - Vietnam3 - Indonesia4 - Macau5 - Hong Kong

2 comments:

A shame you didn't visit Singapore. While in the past Singapore has had a reputation for dry, "rote" learning methods, I've been really impressed lately with their online and mobile learning innovations, such as the Campus Moblog initiative (http://campusmoblog.com.ag), which is streets ahead of anything else I've seen in the world.

I would have loved to have heard if you'd had a chance to check it all out first hand and see if they're really forging ahead in other areas of technology-supported learning...

Hello Leonard,I did spend 8 hours in the Singapore airport on the way to the first stop in Jakarta, but I'm guessing you're talking about a more substantive visit. Although this trip was set well in advance, I did lobby long and hard to the group leader for the possibility of adding Singapore to the next Asian tour. I will check out the mobile learning initiative which might help convince the powers that be of the importance of a stay in Singapore. Thanks for your comment. Barry